December 16, 200817 yr From Jane's Greek flagship heads EU's first naval force By Tim Fish and Lauren Gelfand 16 December 2008 The Hellenic Navy's Hydra-class frigate, HS Psara , sailed from Salamis naval base near Athens on 10 December to serve as flagship for the EU's first-ever operational naval force (EU NAVFOR). EU NAVFOR Somalia was approved by the European Council on 8 December, at an estimated cost of around EUR8.3 million (USD11.2 million), to provide anti-piracy patrols off the Horn of Africa under the banner of Operation 'Atalanta'. A spokesman told Jane's on 15 December that the first phase of the deployment will include naval vessels from France, Germany, Spain and the UK, as well as the Greek flagship, supported by maritime patrol aircraft from France and Spain. The Floréal-class frigate Nivôse (France) and the Type 23 frigate HMS Northumberland (UK) are already on station and will be joined by Psara on 16 December. Germany is expected to send the Bremen-class frigate FGS Karlsruhe. "Hopefully we will have five ships there by mid-January, plus an oiler," the spokesman said. "We've asked for three patrol aircraft." Rear-Admiral Philip Jones at the UK's Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood is commanding 'Atalanta', with Commodore Antonios Papaioannou of the Hellenic Navy taking the role of force commander at sea for the initial four-month period. Force command will pass from Greece to the Spanish and Dutch navies at four-month intervals. As many as 20 ships in total are expected to participate.
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